Ridin’ Dirty

Showers are semi-optional in when we’re in Dilley. The dirt in Dilley is a fine red sand that is good for two things:

1. growing things, like crops and grass burrs, and

2. sticking to your skin.

The red sand gets into everything. It gets into your hair and clothes. You can forget lotion. All it does is make the sand stick better.

We dump buckets of it out of our shoes every time we take them off. We brush our teeth and in less than ten minutes will feel grains of sand crunch between our teeth. If we sweep the floors in the house ten times a day we still won’t get it all.

Sweeping the house (11:56am)

Sweeping the house again (12:13pm)

I’ll even find little piles of red sand tucked into the back of our suitcases like souveniers three months after a Dilley trip. This, incidentally, is why we don’t bring anything nice to Dilley. Unless it’s wrapped in celophane, even clothes tucked into suitcases and bags are going to get stained as red as the dirt before the first day is out.

This is why camoflauge works so well down here – it starts out looking dirty.

The only thing a regular shower will do for you in Dilley is earn you bragging rights as the least dirty human being in the house. Because we all know the second you step out of the shower and the soles of your feet hit that bathroom floor, you’ve stepped into red sand and you’re dirty again.

2 Responsesso far.

In Hawaii the red dirt gets in the water and you wash your clothes in it. The clothes end up with a red hue to them. Then here in beautiful downtown Montague we end up with dust all over the place. It blows in from everywhere.